'F' as in farm ... and food ... and freebies ... and future careers!
Monday, January 23, 2023
Making another impressive appearance at a time-honored winter venue, Pennsylvania College of Technology delivered a Wildcat's share of crowd-pleasing activities at the 2023 Pennsylvania Farm Show (Jan. 7-14) in Harrisburg. Visitors could pick the fact-filled brains of faculty, staff and students throughout the week at the Penn College booth in the expansive Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, and were invited to interactively explore academic offerings – only a small sampling of which are shown here – on a rotating daily schedule.
– Photos provided by faculty member Howard W. Troup;
Kat Kuo for the 2023 PA Preferred® Culinary Connection at the Pennsylvania Farm Show;
and Ken J. Kinley, assistant professor of electronics
Ditchfield demonstrates mushroom flatbread pizza. He is joined onstage by Heller and a Pennsylvania mushroom producer.
Ditchfield’s mushroom flatbread pizza
Landon shares an onstage laugh with Penn College alumna and “Chopped” television-series champion Kristina Wisneski, ’13, sous chef of Pure Roots Provisions in King of Prussia. Other alumni appearing on the Culinary Connection stage were Darren J. Layre ’15, executive chef of Alta Via Pizzeria in Pittsburgh, and Richard McGlynn III, ’13, baker at 40 North Bar & Restaurant, also in Pittsburgh.
Dinan demonstrates root vegetable hash on the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s PA Preferred Culinary Connection stage.
Students make a spirited entry to the stage to face the School Cooking Challenge. The students divided into two teams to conquer a grocery bag of surprise Pennsylvania ingredients that they quickly transformed into tasty dishes for a panel of judges.
Students examine their assigned ingredients.
Strategizing on stage (from left) are Harbron, Stanley, Schwenk and Whipple.
Beck slices Brussels sprouts for his team.
Patrick Andrews, division chief of markets for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, interviews Stanley during the School Cooking Challenge.
Brouse (left) confers with teammates Landon and Gray.
Whipple (left) plates vegetables for his team.
Gray (left) teams with Brouse to plate elements of their offering.
Judges make culinary critique fun.
The Penn College Farm Show team: Front (from left) are M.J. Harbron, of Pottstown, baking & pastry arts; Autumn B. Stanley, of Chesapeake City, Md., baking & pastry arts; Kylie R. Landon, of Canton, culinary arts technology; and Noah W. Beck, of Port Matilda, culinary arts technology. Standing (from left) are Chef Michael J. Ditchfield, instructor of hospitality management/culinary arts; Luke C. Whipple, of Shamokin Dam, baking & pastry arts; Jordan S. Brouse, of Northumberland, culinary arts technology; Daniel S. Gray, of Millheim, culinary arts technology; Jared D. Schwenk, of New Ringgold, culinary arts technology; and Chef Mike S. Dinan, interim sous chef for the college’s Le Jeune Chef Restaurant. Also on the team was Laney E. Heller, of Cogan Station, applied management (Class of 2021, baking & pastry arts).
The School of Engineering Technologies' Bryan C. Schaefer assists a young man on the laptop.
Dental hygiene grad Jordyn M. Kahler, who earned an associate degree (2020) and a bachelor's (2022), shows her Penn College pride.
Thanks to a helpful lift from Dad, a boy gets a better look at the laser burning his name onto a souvenir keychain.
One of the hands-on experiences for Farm Show patrons involved a laser engraver, used to personalize a Penn College-branded keepsake. Manufacturing engineering technology student Jeff L. Martin Jr., of Pittsburgh, designed and manufactured the keychains from donated titanium ...
... so guests could input their names into a laptop and have them carved onto the opposite side.
A knowledgeable duo takes a turn at the college's Farm Show booth: Howard W. Troup (left), assistant professor of automated manufacturing/machine tool technology, and Krishna C. Vistarakula, instructor of manufacturing engineering technology. The pair was assisted by Paul W. Albright, another faculty member in manufacturing engineering technology.
Randall L. Moser, an assistant professor of electronics, is among the faculty on hand ...
... to help visitors "candle" eggs for defects that could prevent their simulated packaging and shipment to grocery stores.
Another alumnus paying a visit was Shane P. Michaels and son Jonathan; Michaels, of Kylertown, is a 2002 diesel technology graduate.
The green and yellow colors of John Deere equipment, displayed opposite the college booth, are recognizable reminders that this IS an agricultural expo!